Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." - Lao Tzu
As we continue our Fall wellness theme of practicing letting go so that we may live lighter and rise higher up into our best, healthiest, happiest, most inspired selves, here are my Top 5 Tips On How Beginning A Fall Meditation Practice Can Become "Nature-al"
- Go Outdoors and Get Still.
Find a quiet place outdoors, or indoors by an open window with a view of a nature, ideally a tree. Unplug and close your eyes (Remember Weekly Wellness Bite, What Do You See?), get still and just get silent with yourself. To make it simple, try one of my favorite ways get still, let go and meditate - Find a Tree and Just Be. I call this "Tree Time". (Just as I did at a local park on a leisurely walk, pictured above)
Settle into your body and connect with your breath, slowly taking 5 deep breaths in through your nose, gently exhaling out through your nose. Notice how your body and mind begin to relax and soften. Notice the sounds and smells of nature. As you continue to notice your breath, imagine you are an extension of nature, connected as one with the whispering, crisp air, the leaves stirring around you and the tree branches rooting from the earth up to the sky.
Notice and honor any thoughts that come to you, as your mind and emotions are an extension of nature and the Universe. Simply observe those thoughts and let them go, centering back to your breath. Allow yourself to just BE as you continue your relaxed breathing. Spend 2, 5 or 10 minutes a few times a week practicing your outdoor ritual of finding a seat to just be.
2. Practice Gratitude Perhaps one of the easiest ways to practice meditating is to practice gratitude. If you don't already, write down 3-5 things you are grateful for every day, either first thing in the morning or at bedtime. Or center your outdoor "Tree Time" focusing on what you are grateful for. Think of the little things and aim to give thanks for 3 new things every day. Notice how you feel after you acknowledge and honor the little things you're grateful for and why. When outdoors, notice how you may feel more connected when you give thanks for breathing fresh, crisp air, for the vibrant hues of the leaves, the sun and the Fall moon and all that the earth provides.
3. Visualize Your Desired State of Mind After you get still and become in sync with your relaxed breathing pattern, visualize how you want to FEEL as you move through your life, or through a difficult situation. Visualize yourself calm, relaxed, loving and at peace. Connect with this visualization of yourself at peace through your breath. Believe it to be so and take action to change your behavior and responses.
4. Declare a Positive Affirmation or Mantra and Act "As If" One of my favorite, most transformational meditation habits is to practice positive affirmations. I've seen it work in my own life and countless others. We have the internal power to change our lives and any given moment by changing our thoughts, so when we declare an affirmation to help us through difficult times or when seeking a more centered, calm state of mind, we can take back control and help overcome it.
Try adding a mantra to your outdoors getting still, becoming one with nature time (Tree Time).
It can be as simple as declaring out loud or repeating in your mind as you practice your relaxed breathing "All Will Be Well" "I Am At Peace" "I am one with nature (or the Universe) "I let go of that which no longer serves me" "I Inhale all the Good & Release the Negative" "I _______________________Fill in the blank for what you are needing and wanting, then believe it and act As If it's already so.
Repeat throughout the day or simply take 2 minutes to get still and Inhale "Let"..........Exhale "Go".........
5. Be open to what messages and insights come when you get outdoors, get still, close your eyes and let go. (otherwise known as meditating!) It may be a thought, a whisper, a "gut feeling" a nudge in a certain direction or a dream soon after that shows you what you need to know after you get still to become one with nature and to get outdoors to breathe and just BE........to visualize yourself calm and connected as one.
Notice the moments after you meditate and as you practice deep relaxed breathing throughout the day. Notice the "messages", Ah-Ha's or ideas that come to you. Observe them with an open mind, without judgement, letting go of anything that isn't serving you. Then take action to fully release getting in your own way, so that you may fully begin to heal, flourish and rise up into your new season.
As you practice these tips, creating new habits and belief patterns, it will become more natural with each outdoor fresh air stillness break, each relaxed breath with gratitude, each visualization and mantra. Just like in nature, your meditation practice will begin to take care of itself, as if it were a natural thing to do and to be. You can naturally become one with nature and it will all begin to feel "Nature-al." Just like in nature, when we slow down and get still, everything is accomplished.
Start today.
Take a deep cleansing breath as you let go and break it down one bite at a time, with faith that all will be well.
With Love and Light, Susan